Winglets for MD21 Racing

After we had successfully designed the winglets for Matt Hall’s MXS-R, Matthias Dolderer asked us to calculate new winglets for his Zivko Edge540.

We already knew the specification sheet, which correlated with the previous project. However with this aircraft we had to respect a mid-wing airplane’s special layout (wings centrally arranged at the fuselage). What’s more the Edge540’s wing is different. Airfoil, wing geometry and airflow are therefore varying.

The final design looks somewhat similar to the MXS-R’s winglets, though. Nevertheless in order to reduce the danger of a “pylon hit” during a race, the Edge540-winglets are shorter. Test flight readings and racing data again showed a significant increase of flight characteristics and shorter lap times.

The icing on the cake was Matthias Dolderer instantly winning the world championship of the 2016 Red Bull Air Race season – racing with our winglets!